Increasing Faith and Undeserving Slaves

Below is a rough translation and some initial comments regarding Luke 17:5-10, the Gospel reading for the 20^th Sunday after Pentecost in the Revised Common Lectionary. This pericope begins with a request from the Apostles, but it also begins with verse 5 of the chapter. I suppose that the folks who composed the lectionary and the folks who first originally added verse distinctions to this text had different interpretations of whether vv. 1-4 are necessarily connected to vv.5ff.

Two interpretive questions strike me from the outset.

1. What is the relationship between the Apostles’ request of v.5 and the comments that precede it in vv.1-4? Vv.1-4 pose a bit of a challenge on their own. It is not clear what vv.1-2 have to do with vv.3-4.

2. What is the relationship between vv.5-6 and vv.7-10? Vv.5-6 are the Apostles’ request and Jesus’ immediate response. Vv.7-10 are a parable, which ends up with a “So also you …” comment.

I must admit that, after the three parables of lost things (sheep, coin, son) in c.15 – which seems obviously aimed at the Pharisees for grumbling that Jesus was eating with the “lost” – the next section of Luke (cc.16, 17, and the first 10 vv. of 18) seems hard to follow thematically. A friend of mine once imagined Luke with a desk full of post-it notes with stories, parables, and teachings that Luke intended to include in his gospel. My friend said that when Luke finished writing the gospel there were some leftover notes, so he went back and plugged them in as cc.16-18. That may sound far-fetched, but consider this: The New Revised Standard Translation subtitles 17:1-10 as “Some Sayings of Jesus.” I think that is another way of saying, “We don’t see how the post-it notes fit together either.”

⁵ Καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ κυρίῳ, Πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν.

And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

εἶπαν: AAI 3p, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 

Πρόσθες: AAImpv, 2s προστίθημι, 1) to put to  2) to add 

1. This seems an odd request, since the previous conversation has not included anything implying that the apostles lack enough faith. The last mention of faith in Luke’s story is back in c.8, when Jesus tells a woman who touched his garment, “Your faith has made you whole.” The last time Jesus says that the disciples lack faith is in that same chapter, when he calmed the raging sea and asked, “Where is your faith?” 

2. To me, our pericope feels as if it should follow the story of Jesus calming the raging sea (8:22-25). Not only is there the topic of adequate faith, but also the elements listening/obeying (v.6).

3. While I called the Apostles’ words a ‘request’ above, it is in the imperative voice, so it could read more like a command/demand. If we follow Boyer’s suggestion (see below*) we can hear the Apostles’ aorist imperative as wanting something in its entirety, as opposed to an ongoing process. “Increase our faith” would have a ‘right now’ sense, rather than a ‘daily’ sense. It might also carry a desperation sense, particularly following Jesus’ words about how one is to forgive an offender seven times a day. The Apostles’ use of the aorist imperative might carry the connotation of “Who can do such a thing? We need more faith!” 

 ⁶ εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος, Εἰ ἔχετε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐλέγετε ἂν τῇ 

συκαμίνῳ [ταύτῃ], Ἐκριζώθητι καὶ φυτεύθητι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ: καὶ 

ὑπήκουσεν ἂν ὑμῖν.

Yet the Lord said, “If you have faith as a seed of mustard, whenever you were saying to [this] sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; even then it would listen to you.” 

εἶπεν:  AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 

ἔχετε : PAI 2pl, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold

ἐλέγετε : IAI 2pl, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 

Ἐκριζώθητι : APImpv, 2s, ἐκριζόω, 1) to root out, pluck up by the roots 

φυτεύθητι :APImpv, 2s, φυτεύω,  1) to plant  

ὑπήκουσεν : AAI 3s, ὑπακούω, 1) to listen, to harken ... 2a) to obey, be obedient to, submit to demand.

1. I am trying to capture the ἂν ... ἂν structure with “whenever ... even then”.

2. Passive imperatives are interesting things. I’m sure there’s something profound about them and I am relying on my text-friends to help me understand it. A person with grainy faith does not say to the tree, “Go plant yourself in the sea!” but says, “be uprooted” “be planted in the sea!” The actual agent of who is doing the uprooting and the planting seems implied or irrelevant.

3.  This being ‘plucked up’ and ‘being planted’ are reminiscent of Jeremiahs’ prophetic calling: “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up (ἐκριζοῦν  in LXX) and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant (κατα-φυτεύειν in LXX).’ (Jer.1:10). Are these words of Jesus an echo of that prophetic activity? Is that prophetic power what the Apostles are seeking?

4. Or, is Jesus contrasting the Apostles’ wrongful use of the imperative voice to him with a faithful use of the imperative voice to a sycamore tree? (The next story will call into question what a slave is entitled to expect from a master.)

5. More importantly, is Jesus rebutting the Apostles’ demand, or fulfilling it? Is this parabolic connection between faith and the mustard seed a way of saying, “Thanks for asking. Here is a parable that will increase your faith”? Or, it is a way of saying, “You have no idea what you are asking. You don’t need more faith, you need to realize the power of the faith that you have”? Should the “yet” (δὲ) have the sense of “But Jesus said …” or “So Jesus said …”?

6. I realize that I have “listen” for ὑπήκουσεν and every other translation known to the English speaking world has “obey.” I am trying to keep the sense of “hear” (ακούω) with the prefix “under” (ὑπω), which could imply something that is done secretively or at least in a hidden, non-obvious way.

 ⁷ Τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν δοῦλον ἔχων ἀροτριῶντα ἢ ποιμαίνοντα, ὃς εἰσελθόντι 

ἐκ τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ, Εὐθέως παρελθὼν ἀνάπεσε,

Yet who among you having a slave plowing or shepherding, who having come in out of the field will say to him, ‘Having come beside, sit back at table immediately?’

ἔχων: PAPart, nms, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold 

ἀροτριῶντα : PAPart, ams,  plowing

ποιμαίνοντα: PAPart, ams, ποιμαίνω, 1) to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep

εἰσελθόντι :AAPart, dms, εἰσέρχομαι, 1) to go out or come in: to enter

ἐρεῖ: FAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 

παρελθὼν : AAPart, nms, παρέρχομαι, 1) to go past, pass by 

ἀνάπεσε: AAImpv, 2s ἀναπίπτω, 1) to lie back, lie down  2) to recline at a table, to sit back

 ⁸ἀλλ' οὐχὶ ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ, Ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσω, καὶ περιζωσάμενος 

διακόνει μοι ἕως φάγω καὶ πίω, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα φάγεσαι καὶ πίεσαι σύ;

Rather, will he not say to him, “Prepare something I may dine, and having girded yourself serve me so that I may eat and drink, and after these things you may help yourself eat and drink.   

ἐρεῖ : FAI 3s, λέγω 1) to say, to speak  (The NRSV makes this 2^nd person, you)

Ἑτοίμασον : AAI 2s, ἑτοιμάζω, 1) to make ready, prepare  1a) to make the necessary preparations, get everything ready 

δειπνήσω: AASubj 1s, δειπνέω, 1) sup, to take the chief meal, to dine

περιζωσάμενος : AMPart, nms, περιζώννυμι, 1) to fasten garments with a girdle or belt  2) to gird one's self 

διακόνει: PAImpv 2s, διακονέω, 1) to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve,

φάγω: AASubj, ἐσθίω, 1) to eat 

πίω: AASubj, πίνω, 1) to drink 

φάγεσαι : FMI 2s, ἐσθίω, 1) to eat 

πίεσαι : FMI 2s, πίνω, 1) to drink 

1. The last ‘eat and drink’ are reflexive, so I added ‘help yourself’.

 ⁹μὴ ἔχει χάριν τῷ δούλῳ ὅτι ἐποίησεν τὰ διαταχθέντα;

Does he have thanks to the slave that did the things that were ordered? 

Perhaps: ‘Isn’t it grace enough to expect a slave to have done what has been ordered?’

ἔχει : PAI 3s, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold  

ἐποίησεν : AAI 3s, ποιέω, 1) to make 

διαταχθέντα: APPart, anpl, διατάσσω, 1) to arrange, appoint, ordain, prescribe, give order

1. I really disagree with the NRSV’s decision to make this 2^nd person, “Do you not thank ...” instead of keeping the verb in the 3^rd person. I realize that this whole set of questions was begun with “Who among you...” in v.7, but the verbs since then have been clearly 3^rd person and that sets up the contrast to where the verbs become 2^nd person in v.10.

2. Likewise, the verb here is not ‘to thank’ but ‘to have,’ followed by the object of the verb χάριν , which can mean ‘thanks’ but also could mean ‘grace.’ I guess ‘have thanks’ is too awkward for clarity’s sake.

 ¹⁰οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὅταν ποιήσητε πάντα τὰ διαταχθέντα ὑμῖν, λέγετε ὅτι 

Δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν, ὃ ὠφείλομεν ποιῆσαι πεποιήκαμεν. 

Thus also you, when you might do all the things that have been ordered to you, say “We are undeserving slaves, that which we were obligated to do we have done.”

ποιήσητε : AASubj, 2pl, ποιέω, 1) to make 

διαταχθέντα : APPart, anpl, διατάσσω, 1) to arrange, appoint, ordain, prescribe, give order

λέγετε : PAImpv, 2pl, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 

ἐσμεν: PAI 1pl, εἰμί, 1) to be,

ὠφείλομεν : IAI 1pl, ὀφείλω, 1) to owe  1a) to owe money, be in debt for  1a1) that which is due, the debt  2) metaph. the goodwill due 

ποιῆσαι: AAInf, ποιέω, 1) to make, do 

πεποιήκαμεν: PerfAI, 1pl, ποιέω, 1) to make, do

1. One question for this verse is how to translate ἀχρεῖοί. Some of the definitions given are: ‘unprofitable’/‘worthless’, ‘of no use’/’useless’, or ‘not wanted’. It seems to me that the point is not that the slave has no value to the master, but that the slave has no reason to assume that she is entitled to eat as a reward for doing her/his obligatory service. Hence, I am saying ‘undeserving’ with respect to being served by the master.

2. A second question is how to employ ἀχρεῖοί. It could be a simple adjective, “worthless slaves” as I have it above. Or, since the main verb is a form of the verb ‘to be,’ it could be a nominative predicate, with Δοῦλοι the nominative subject, like “We slaves are worthless.” I don’t know if “We slaves” is a legitimate rendering for Greek. It sounds like my southern roots are showing.

The interpretive question for this text, it seems to me, is whether verses 5-6 are necessarily connected to verses 7-10 and, if so, what that connection is. If this is one connected pericope, then it might be that the “undeserving slaves” who have no reason to expect special treatment at the table are the Apostles, whose request for increased faith was wrongheaded. Since I don’t really get what, exactly, that request meant, perhaps it was an attempt to become ‘super disciples,’ to have an extra measure of faith in order to perform the kinds of things Jesus is able to do. The retort, then, would be, “Why do you think you deserve special treatment, simply because you have responded to the call that you were given?”

In addition, I can’t help but to hold this teaching in contrast with the words of Luke 14, “[Jesus] said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ (Food for thought.)

* Here is what James Boyer says about the use of the aorist imperative, as in v.5

“It is obvious that the distinction is not in the time of the action, for only in the indicative mood is time involved; all the other moods are future in time reference. Rather, the difference is in the way the speaker chooses to speak of the types of action. There are three basic kinds: (a) durative, continuing, repeated, or customary, expressed by the present tense; (b) simple action, "do it," expressed by the aorist tense; and (c) completed and lasting, expressed by the perfect tense. Major grammars are usually clear on these.

Thus the present imperative expresses a command or request that calls for action that is continuing or repeated, often general, universal, habitual; action that characterizes the doer. "Love one another" means, not "do something," but "always be doing things for one another." On the other hand, the aorist imperative is used to command or request an action that is specific and occasional, dealing with everyday procedural decisions, or in general admonitions simply to say, "Do it."

James Boyer, “A Classification of Imperatives: A Statistical Study” (Grace Theological Seminary, 1987).

https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/new_testament_greek/text/boyer-imperatives-gtj.htm